BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 15, 2021
Dec. 14 was the first official day of the Maine Bird Atlas, a five-year project managed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Every two or three decades, many states document where all of their birds are. Birds are very picky about where they want to be. Each species is adapted to specific habitats, determined by food and breeding requirements. Habitats change over time. Tracking the change is hard. But birds are relatively easy to track. They’re colorful and noisy, and there are hundreds of different species. By comparing species distribution maps 20 years apart, biologists can get a pretty good picture of how the earth is changing right under our noses. ~ Bob Duchesne